Championship team preview: Durham

Durham Women’s team in a huddle at home ground Maiden Castle via Durham WFC website

Team Overview

Durham WFC was founded in 2014 and since then have been playing in the Championship tier of women’s football or what was previously known as WSL 2. 

The club that goes by the nickname ‘Wildcats’ to their fans, play their home matches at Maiden Castle which has a capacity of 1800. And currently play under head coach Adam Furness who was appointed as manager at the start of this season after a stint as interim towards the second half of last season. 

Key Players

Within the current squad, the most capped player is Beth Hepple with 266 appearances across her 11 years at the club. She is also the club’s all-time record goal scorer with 97 goals. Hepple is maintaining her successful record this season, with the most assists in the squad with 4 and second in goals to Mollie Lambert who has 5 with Hepple on 4. 

Another player to watch is summer signing, Canadian international – Kaila Novak who had an impressive League Cup campaign with 2 goals and an assist in four appearances. 

This season

Durham have had a very impressive season so far this year, outperforming their 9th place finish last season. Durham currently sit in 3rd place with 6 points off promotion and league leaders Birmingham City. They have 2 wins and a draw in their last five. 

They also had a very successful League Cup campaign. They topped their group against Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Sheffield United, with 2 wins and a draw. Durham was the only non-WSL side to reach the quarter finals.

Unfortunately for them, Durham drew English women's football giants and last year’s finalists Chelsea, away at Kingsmeadow, and left with a 5-0 loss. Regardless of the result it was still an impressive achievement for the team. 

Durham’s next game is against Newcastle at home on the 16th March, 12pm kick off and is available to watch via the Barclay’s Women Championship YouTube channel.